What Voter ID asks for
ECI's photo rule is in three places that agree: the Form 6 guidelines, the form itself and the label on the portal's upload button. They print the size as "4.5cm X 3.5cm"; the portal's cropper is locked to a portrait shape, so it's 3.5 cm wide × 4.5 cm high. The 2MB limit and the .jpg/.jpeg rule appear only on the upload label and in the portal's checks.
| Upload | Pixels | File size | Format | Background |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photograph | Not set 3.5 × 4.5 cm | up to 2 MB we aim for 1024 KB or less | .jpg, .jpeg | White |
Photograph: the notice's words
“A recent good quality passport size unsigned colour photograph (4.5cm X 3.5cm) with white background should be pasted in the space provided.”
“Eyes must be open and both edges of face must be clearly visible.”
“Upload Photograph (Unsigned and Passport size color photograph(4.5 cm X 3.5 cm) showing front view of full face with white background.)(Document size maximum 2MB,.jpg,.jpeg)”
Name and date on the photo: Not asked for. The only related rule is that the photo must be unsigned.
Why 1024 KB or less: The portal shrinks any photo over 1 MB in your browser before it's sent (its code sets maxSizeMB 1). A file under 1 MB goes as you made it.
What the tool makes: your crop's own pixels, up to 1,920 × 1,920 px (the most the portal keeps (maxWidthOrHeight 1920) before it shrinks the photo; our limit, not an ECI rule). These are worked out from the notice's numbers, not stated in it.
How to use the voter ID photo resizer
- Choose a recent colour photo of yourself. A phone photo is fine, including an iPhone HEIC.
- Zoom in so your face and the top of your shoulders fill most of the 3.5 × 4.5 portrait frame, with your eyes open and both edges of your face showing. Tap Make the background white if the wall behind you isn't white.
- When the checklist is green, download the JPG and choose it at Form 6's photo step. The portal then asks you to crop it in its portrait frame, which already matches.
Example: a phone photo through the Voter ID resizer
- Photograph: a 12-megapixel phone photo, 3,000 × 4,000 px, opens as a 1,800 × 2,400 px copy; the frame at the 3.5 × 4.5 cm shape covers 1,800 × 2,314 px, drawn smaller, at 1,493 × 1,920 px. The JPEG is at most 1,024,000 bytes (up to 2 MB, aiming for 1024 KB or less), named voter-id-photo-1493x1920.jpg. Over the limit even at 60% quality, it would get fewer pixels, same shape.
The JPEG quality it lands on depends on the picture itself.
What the portal does with your photo
The Voters' Service Portal does part of the work itself. After you choose a file, it checks the type (.jpg or .jpeg only) and the size (up to 2 MB), shows a cropper locked to a portrait shape of 0.77 (about 3.5 : 4.5), and shrinks the result to at most 1 MB and 1,920 pixels on its longest side. Then it sends the photo to a face check; if no face is found, it's rejected.
So this tool doesn't force a pixel size that ECI never set. It frames your photo at the same portrait shape as the portal's cropper, so the crop there takes nothing more off, and keeps it to 1,920 px and under 1 MB, so the portal has nothing to shrink: the photo arrives as you made it. Those two limits are our aim, taken from the portal's own settings, not ECI rules. It also does the parts the portal won't: a JPG from any photo and a white background. Leave some space above your head and below your chin.
Framing tips from ECI's own photo standard
ECI's Manual on Electoral Rolls (March 2023) describes how photos on the card should look. It's an internal standard, not the Form 6 upload rule, but it's a good guide: your face takes about 75% of the photo's height, it's a close-up of your head and the top of your shoulders, your expression is neutral, your eyes aren't covered, there are no tinted glasses or glare, no headgear hides your face, and there are no other people or objects in the picture.
Signature, thumb and declaration
You don't upload any of them for Form 6. The online form fills in the declaration with fields and checkboxes, and the paper form has a line "Signature of Applicant/Left Hand Thumb Impression" that you sign or thumb-impress by hand. For a person with a disability, the signature or thumb impression of the person or of their legal guardian is accepted.
Why Voter ID uploads get rejected
These are the portal's own checks on the photo:
- If the portal's face check finds no face in the photo, the photo is rejected.
- A file over 2000 KB is refused with "Size limit exceeds".
- Anything other than a .jpg or .jpeg file, such as a PNG or PDF, is refused with "Please select valid file type".
How the tool reaches the KB range
Your crop, at the portrait shape, is drawn at up to 1,920 pixels on its longest side and saved as a JPEG at the highest quality that stays under 1,024,000 bytes (1 MB), well inside the 2 MB limit. If a photo doesn't fit even at 60% quality, the pixel size is reduced, keeping the shape, and the search runs again. The checklist is read from the finished file. To change only the background colour of a photo, use Change Photo Background Colour; to convert a batch of iPhone photos, use HEIC to JPG.
Check before you apply
- The label says 2MB, and the portal's code refuses a file when its size in KB (1,024 bytes each, rounded) is over 2000. The tool keeps under 2,000,000 bytes, which is inside that either way.
- ECI sets no pixel size, DPI or minimum file size for the Form 6 photo. The tool frames your photo at the 3.5 × 4.5 cm portrait shape and keeps your crop's own pixels, up to 1,920 px. Pixel and KB figures quoted for voter ID elsewhere aren't from an ECI source.
- After you choose the photo, the portal makes you crop it in a portrait frame (shape 0.77, about 3.5 × 4.5) and shrinks it to at most 1 MB and 1,920 px on its longest side before it's sent. The tool aims for under 1 MB (1,024,000 bytes) and 1,920 px, so the portal has nothing to shrink.
- These limits come from the live portal's code and labels, which ECI can change with any release. Check the label on your upload screen.
- Form 8 (to change your photo or correct your details) asks for the same 4.5 cm x 3.5 cm white-background photo. Form 6A, for overseas electors, asks for 3.5 cm x 3.5 cm, so this page isn't for Form 6A.
- The Voter Helpline app's own limits weren't checked; this page follows the Voters' Service Portal.
Sources
Rules on this page and in the tool are as per the ECI Guidelines for filling up Form 6 (file date 20 July 2022, read on 8 October 2026); check the latest notice before you apply. We read the official sources below on 8 October 2026 (Current Form 6 (new forms in force from 1 August 2022); the live Voters' Service Portal code and labels checked on 8 October 2026) and will check them again by 8 January 2027.
- ECI Guidelines for filling up Form 6 ↗, file date 20 July 2022, read on 8 October 2026
- Form 6: Application Form for New Voters ↗, file date 28 October 2025, read on 8 October 2026
- Voters' Service Portal: Form 6 upload label and messages ↗, read on 8 October 2026
- Voters' Service Portal: Form 6 photo field (.jpg/.jpeg, 2000 KB) ↗, read on 8 October 2026
- Voters' Service Portal: upload check, 0.77 crop and compression ↗, read on 8 October 2026
- Voters' Service Portal: face-detection check ↗, read on 8 October 2026
- ECI Manual on Electoral Rolls, March 2023 (copy hosted by CEO Tripura) ↗, read on 8 October 2026